The present invention relates to a novel digital watch having on the watch face a game display consisting of a matrix of game display elements which are selectively illuminated in response to a stored program contained on a microcomputer (microprocessor) LSI chip contained in the watch housing. In the past digital watch displays have been limited to displaying alphanumeric information such as time, A.M. or P.M., date, etc. One watch which is believed to be on the market made by Tomy called the "Watchman", has a rudimentary game display of limited capability which displays a bowling game, wherein the game player can position a simulated bowler in one of a plurality of positions on an LCD display and then cause release of a bowling ball which moves across the LCD display in a line from the point of release to intersect and knock down one or more of a plurality of bowling pins at the opposite side of the LCD display.
This "Watchman" game watch is only capable of playing a single game and the capability of the display is much less versatile than that of a matrix display according to the present invention for displaying a wide variety of different games on the same game display. In addition, the "Watchman" game watch has much less variety in the type and amount of player input during the play of the game, and in particular, neither enables nor requires the game player to repeatedly generate player input during the course of the game in response to a continuously varying game display which continuously increments through display changes in response to the game program and interaction of program controlled display and the changes and player input controlled display changes. The present invention relates to a such a matrix game display incorporated on the face of a digital watch display, which watch has a programed microcomputer (microprocessor) for controlling the display of a plurality of games on the matrix display and the capacity for incorporating a plurality of different player inputs into the conduct of the game.
The game displaying wristwatch of the presently preferred embodiment of the present invention provides the versatility of multiple selection and multiple available player inputs, all on a wristwatch having a display for displaying time or the play of the game, by providing an LSI microcomputer (microprocessor) chip controlled display with a programmed control of the game display and the player input into the control of the game. The game display is in the form of a matrix having a plurality of game display elements arranged in rows and columns, each with the capability of being displayed in a plurality of different game element representations, thereby enabling the simulation of the movement and the interactions about the matrix "screen" of the display, in response to the programmed game control as affected by the player input to the game control.
Examples of the move important features of the present invention have thus been summarized rather broadly in order that the detailed description which follows may be better understood and the contribution to the art may be appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will also form the subject of the appended claims. These other features will become apparent with reference to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals have been used to indicate the same elements, in which: